Kansas Continues to Struggle Without A Point Guard

By Jack Dooley

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Under head coach Bill Self the Kansas Jayhawkshave been nearly unbeatable at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas has only lost eight games at home during Self’s tenure. The Jayhawks would play host to the San Diego State Aztecs Sunday afternoon in their final non-conference game of the season. Kansas has not dropped a home non-conference game since 2006, when it lost against Oral Roberts.Since that loss, the Jayhawks have won 68 consecutive home games.

Despite the culture of Kansas being on their side, Kansas was at a high disadvantage. While the Mountain West Conference has been suffering a down year, San Diego State has been having a phenomenal season. San Diego State is 2-1 against the top 25, with its lone loss coming at the hands of Arizona. The secret to the Aztecs is their defense. The Aztecs have the best field goal percentage defense in the country.

They would have to square off against a Kansas team that is No. 5 in the nation in shooting percentage. Kansas has a team that is full of talented scorers, but lacks a true point guard. Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid are budding stars on the Jayhawk roster, but need a facilitator to reach their true potential.

The lack of a facilitator has been reflected in the Jayhawks’ high turnover margin thus far, but Sunday was a different story. San Diego State played tenacious defense and held the Jayhakws to their lowest shooting percentage since their loss to Texas Christianlast season. 29.8 percent shooting will not win a lot of basketball games, and Kansas found out the hard way when it lost its first non-conference game in six years.

Embiid had a monster game considering the circumstances. Without a facilitating point guard, Embiid was forced to create for himself. Wiggins had one of his worst shooting performances of the year, going 4-14 from the floor. Kansas is in serious jeopardy if it cannot find a facilitating point guard on the roster. Kansas has been able to survive this tragic flaw in its rotation by relying on superior athleticism, but in a loaded Big 12 Conference, Kansas will be unseated from their longstanding reign at the top of the Big 12.

Jack Dooley is a Big 12 Basketball writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JackDooleyOCS.